Short session thirty

A SHORT three hour session was all the time that Craig Runham needed to catch this 31lb 12oz mirror from a southern stillwater.

On arriving at the venue, the Reading-based rod headed to an area of the lake which he’d prebaited at the end of a previous session with a mixture of Mainline Cell, New Grange and Maple 8 boilies.
He soon spotted fish fizzing over the spot and he wasted no time flicking out a couple of Milky Toffee pop-up hookbaits on to a firm patch of silt either side of the bubbling – one on a chod rig and the other on a hinged-stiff rig.

“I sat down in my day chair feeling and expecting one of the slack lines to lift up at any moment,” he told Angling Times. “After 10 minutes the pinpricking started again very close to the first rod that was cast out. The anticipation was killing me and I found myself staring at the limp, slack line hanging off the rod tip. Suddenly the line flicked and started cutting up through the water. I was on the rod in a flash and a healthy bend was made in the carbon. The fish tore off out into the lake taking 20 - 30 yards of line and stayed deep while charging up and down the clear margin.”

Craig’s successful setup consisted of a 20lb Korda Mouthtrap and N-Trap hooklink in conjunction with a size 6 Kaptor Choddy hook.